I just recently purchased headphones to use while while I drive in my company car ( no cd player ) I'm in sales and drive a lot and able to listen to good clips of shows. I've been listening to live Grateful Dead for 37 years. You can do the math. The second part of this 1st set absolutely smokes from Esau on. Listen to the beautiful interplay of the band. Brent had such a distinctive sound in 84. Listen to his trippy sound especially during Bird Song. Phil is all over this section of music also ( Bombs away)
A solid 2nd set for 84 with a cooking Samson. I have heard but kinda skipped over these 2 Cal Expo shows through the years and I'm glad to revisit them. FORVER GRATEFUL>FOREVER DEAD> GIVE IT A WHIRL AND "LISTEN" TO THE MUSIC PLAY!

Listening on gdradio and they're playing this. The show was during the day and the temperature was 103 degrees farenheit...down front was an oven. I took some photos and I can guarantee that Jerry was neither green or blue...I just looked at them and he looked great! I think he sounds great too...listen to He's Gone. And Brett wasn't too shrill sounding. This is the first time I've heard this show since being there in 84 and it's much better than I remember...but then again, I was overheating on a double dose of some strong blotter.
I think this show kicks ass!
I never returned to Cal Expo in Sacto because of the heat, but I lived in Berkeley and had hundreds of opportunities to see the boys play around the bay area. Had a UC Staff pass and got into the Greek for free for 5 years.
In talking with Jerry before a November 76 Berkeley Keystone show, we figured out we each had dropped two sugar cubes at about the same time...I still have the aluminum foil mine was wrapped in in my souvenier box. Jerry bought me a couple of Beck's beers at the bar and invited me up on stage, where I sat on the floor leaning on the leg of Keith's piano while Donna sang perfectly in key and danced right next to me. God she was so gorgeous! Jerry played to me from across the stage the whole show. I made out under the piano with a beautiful blonde girl from Petaluma who had a dozen yellow roses...she stroked my face with one of them. Watching about 80 Hells Angels blast off into the fog on their bikes after the show was also memorable.
I'm so appreciative that I was able to experience life with so many wonderful Deadheads in the 70's and 80's. That love is still alive!

Was at both and recorded both and this day, Jerrys playing was sloppy with many mistakes. The day before, he played flawlessly. Don't understand the 5 stars. And I recorded over my recording of this show because I thought it wasn't very good.

and the purple gel tabs...I was 17 and bought a tye dye on the back fence of the show that looked like a colored hole into another universe with a turtle in the middle. It spoke to me!! I have seen pix of Jerry at this time and he appeared to have an unusaul green hue to his skin tone. Glad he mafe it for many more years. I stood at the top of the stairs on the bleachers and felt like it was an escalator. Fun times for a dancing fool teenager in the sping sunshine cali style...

wow, lots of energy on this one. No jerry tunes after space could mean you-know-what, but I love tempo at this gig. Those who dig the 84's should try the Maine and hartford shows in Oct. Probably the best of the year(my opinion only)

Theyre just playing WARP SPEED. 7/21 is similar. A word of caution on the Minglewood Phil is SUPER SICK!! China>Rider is pure technical excellence. 1984 or STFU!!
Must Listen

From start to finish this is more of a rowdy Centrum or Garden show - Cut Stranger wails and TLEO is perfect compliment Bird Song, Mwood in fact the entire first set sizzles. I dont think I have ever been to show that opened a Set II with China > Rider that was not memorable and this is one of the best of the eighties no exaggeration. Lastly for anyone that listened to the drums when they were using this vibraphone and bouncing the sounds all over the inside of the arena it was impossible to describe how cool it was. Unreal show.

its definitely speeded up. I checked it against my keyboard. But not much, at least not as much as it sounds on China Cat - Rider. Its also played faster than usual. Outstanding playing by Jerry, esp. by 1984 standards.

This show rocks!!
Love it

I wasn't expecting much when I downloaded this one. The live experience was nothing to write home about. Cal Expo is a great venue, but the daytime shows there during the heat of the day could be so overwhelmingly hot, temperature-wise, that it was hard to appreciate anything except the outdoor showers set up behind the bleachers. And Garcia looked about as bad as he ever did around this time. During this show a friend of mine who had never seen them before asked if they put makeup on his arms to make them look blue.
But on these crisp SBD transfers, you would never know how strung out he was. His playing sparkles on most songs, but is especially vibrant on 'Birdsong', 'China-Rider' and 'He's Gone'. The jam out of 'He's Gone' has the instrumental break that was so often missing during the 80's. It's far from a perfect show, of course. Brent puts a damper on things with the tedious 'Don't Need Love', and Jerry sort of packed it in after the drums. But to my surprise, this show really stands out for the playing. If you like '84, this is a good one to sample.

these boards are tight. The show almost sounds sped up........ but their just jammin.
I am really finding a whole new world in 84 shows. They were sparingly circulated in years past, but thanks to lama, gems are arising.
check out 4-7-84, 4-20-84
peace
robert

This is an explosive show from an up and down early summer run. The soundboard is well balanced and shows Lesh in a great mood as he plunders through Sacramento cow pastures. The TLEO is the best version of all time. Lesh and Garcia are playing off each other in a radioactive fashion that could lift skulls to never, never land. Garica's solo is creative and goes on forever. The second set is equally hot, with a China>Rider that shows the the subtle interplay between Lesh and Brent as they scorch and sear the Expo. Dont Need Love is a great pre-drums song and this one features some great "ace" guitar licks as Jerry takes a breather....the preceding jam out of He's Gone is bubbly and features several different themes. Some great pictures from this show are available on Currio's website... //www.markcurriestudios.com/html/dead/shows/1984/frameset5/index.html